I'd like to put to you what my plan for now is.
We have a couple of things to wait for. Primarily the patch, secondarily we might want a sixth player. I'd propose that we allow until the patch for a sixth player to show up, and if nobody comes, I'll change the map to something more friendly towards five players. We might even allow for a sea nation to have a bit more real estate, if we pick something with more than a puddle. It would be a tragedy, though, because I was really looking forward to this game happening on Biddyn.
Maybe I should play myself here...We've also not locked down what we think about mods. I'm still advocating for Worthy Heroes, as
maestro Burnsaber is a genius. Looking at the current roster, and picking some bits out of it, we'd get the following new and adjusted (some of them remain unchanged) heroes (possibly) in the game:
Abysia:
Malphas (1667), Warlock, F3S2B4, demon, sacred, demonform with stealthy, assassin, flying and darkpower (unchanged)
Malikastis (5407), Experiment, F1E2B1, fireres 25, heat 4, fear 5, poisonres 15
Multihero [that means lots of these can join you] (5406), Child of Anthrax, F2D2, ethereal, fireres 25, poisonres 25, banefireshield 8, sacred
Oceania:
Great Mother (5460), Ancient One, H4, trample, aquatic, animal, nobadevents 25, spreaddom 1, inspiringres 1, inspiring 2
Sterope, (5454), Siren Queen A2W2D2, +1 watermagic, -1 airmagic, sacred, awe 4, amphibian, recuperation, changes to birdshape in land with +1 airmagic, -1 watermagic and beckon 15
Calypso (5456), Naiad Queen, recuperation, awe 7, gift of water breathing 50, amphibian, stealthy, seduce 15
Yomi
Tsunekage (1673), Devourer of Demons, F1D1, regeneration, demon, inspirational 1 (+regeneration [40], +stats, +enchanted armor)
Kurofumi (1672), Master of the Shadow Blossom, F1E2D4B1, blinds attackers, demon (unchanged)
Masatora (1671), Ghost General, D2, fear 5, undead, chill 3, ethereal, float (+immortal)
Fuykane (5419), Bandit King, F1E1B2, stealthy, fireres 5, poisonres 5, fear 5, chaospower 1, gluttony 5, summons 1 shortbow bandit per month, starts battle with 2d6 shortbow bandits, generates 1 blood slave per month, increases unrest by 5
Ur
EnHedu'anna (2432), Entu of the Moon, W1E1S3H3, old age, inspirational 2, elegist 3 (less old)
Utnapishtim (2433), Favored of Enki, N3H2, immortal, inspirational -1 (unchanged)
Adapa (5477), Seventh Sage, A3W3N2H3, amphibian, recuperation,nobadevents 15, sailing 100size 3maxsize, old age
Berytos
Dis Mater (2429), Bride of the Gods, F3E1D3B3H2 (unchanged)
BaŽal Hammon (2430), King of the City, F3A2B3H3, fear 5, fireres 8, gluttony 20, old age, popkiller 80, incunrest 8, douse 3, adept sacrificer 3 (unchanged)
Multihero (5467), Brazen Bull, F1B1H3, 200% F/E/D/B, inanimate, magicbeing, nobadevents 15, researchbonus -10, popkill 50, trample, heat 6, fireres 15,coldres 15, poisonres 25
Marverni
Corix (1849), Blinded, E2S4N2H2, blind (duh), old (unchanged)
Carnon (1843), Antlered One, animalawe, inspirational +1, berserker +5, stealthy (+stats,+slots,+heroic weapon,+enchanted armor,+personal luck)
The One in the Woods (1588), Wanderer, E2S3N4H2, animalawe 4, beast master 1 (unchanged)
Multihero (5402), Bloodhenge Druid, E1S1N1B2H2, W/E/S/N 210%, old age, douse 4
I'm going to arbitrate
against using mods if there's no voice regarding this.
I'd also like to reach an agreement regarding diplomacy. In the initial post, one of the spoilered infodumps contained this guideline (for Machiavellian diplomacy):
- Trade agreements are sacred. Once you decided to exchange some gems/items/gold, you MUST fulfill your side of the agreement.
- No constrains on diplomacy. You can attack anyone you want, with or without warning. It would be, however, in good taste not to rush another player at the very beginning of the game. We're all trying to have a good time playing this.
- Use forum PMs for diplomacy. The in-game messaging system is seriously flawed(unacceptably slow, and parts of messages tend to disappear)
So outside of trading gold, gems or items, there is nothing binding. I think this is interesting because it builds the game on trust and distrust, and it rewards opportunism and political acumen. You may agree to a non-aggression pact (or NAP), and then break it when the time is right... or not. Do we want intrigue like that, or do we want something more secure? There is an interesting element even in binding diplomacy, in that it might be harder to get people to agree with you. I'm going to go ahead and arbitrate that Machiavellian diplomacy is what we're going for, unless there's a voice for binding agreements.
I'd also like to return to what we discussed about public or private diplomacy. Personally, I'd like to see both types of interaction (even if private messages are going to be invisible to me), because it'd allow for both shenanigans
and entertaining roleplay/drama here. If we like, we can agree on some type of contrivance for the setting of public diplomacy, like a council chamber. So, in effect, you'd preferably announce and discuss any public matters that are in your interests to handle in that way, and keep private the matters that you don't want others to see.
I'd like to have these rules set before we start the game, so in effect we probably have a few days to twiddle our thumbs.